The ClimatePlan partnership is committed to ensuring that low-income and minority communities share equally in the benefits of SB 375 implementation, while not bearing an undue share of the burdens. This section includes reports and resources that address the impacts of climate change on low-income communities and approaches that can be taken to ensure that all Californians are provided the opportunity to drive less and live in healthier, more sustainable communities.
Quick Fact
People of color in California experience over seventy percent more of the dangerous pollution coming from major greenhouse gas polluters as whites, and the disparity is particularly sharp for African Americans (Minding the Climate Gap, By Manuel Pastor Ph.D, Rachel Morello-Frosch Ph.D, James Sadd Ph.D, Justin Scoggins M.S. April 2010)
SB 375 and Social Equity: Recommendations from Advocates
Social Equity in Sustainable Communities Strategies – A Presentation by Urban Habitat and Public Advocates
July 20, 2010
Download the presentation
Resources for Public Participation and the Sustainable Communities Strategies
Public Advocates, January 2011
Download the Public Participation Resources
Social Equity Community Comment Letter to Air Resources Board – SB 375 Targets
July 20, 2010
Download the comment letter
Publications and Tools
PolicyLink’s Equitable Development Toolkit
Equitable outcomes come about when smart, intentional strategies are put in place to ensure that low-income communities and communities of color participate in and benefit from decisions that shape their neighborhoods and regions. This online toolkit includes 27 tools to reverse patterns of segregation and disinvestment, prevent displacement, and promote equitable revitalization.
Link to toolkit
Maintaining Diversity in America’s Transit-Rich Neighborhoods, Tools for Equitable Change
October 2010
By the Dukakis Center for Urban and Regional Policy, Northeastern University
More than 3,000 transit-rich neighborhoods (TRNs) in U.S. metropolitan areas have fixed-guideway transit stations and hundreds more such neighborhoods could be created over the next decade if current plans for new transit systems and stations are realized. Americans are increasingly using transit and showing more interest in living in transit-rich neighborhoods.
Policy Tools
Download Report
Action Guide: Mixed-Income Transit-Oriented Development
By the Center for Transit Oriented Development and Reconnecting America
The action guide is a tool for local jurisdictions working to foster mixed-income transit-oriented development (TOD) around planned transit stations. The goal of this guide is to help practitioners identify the most appropriate and effective planning tools for achieving MITOD in their transit station area, and ultimately to facilitate the development of mixed-income communities across the United States.
Link to Action Guide
Minding the Climate Gap: What’s at Stake if California’s Climate Law isn’t Done Right and Right Away
April 2010
By Manuel Pastor Ph.D, Rachel Morello-Frosch Ph.D, James Sadd Ph.D, Justin Scoggins M.S
This report shows how creating incentives for the reduction of greenhouse gases from facilities operating in the most polluted neighborhoods could generate major public health benefits. The study also details how revenues generated from charging polluters could be used to improve air quality and create jobs in the neighborhoods that suffer from the dirtiest air
Download the Report
Download the Fact Sheet
Preserving Affordable Housing Near Transit
By Reconnecting America, Enterprise, and the National Housing Trust – 2010
This report provides a collection of case studies examining what cities are doing to ensure that affordable housing isn’t lost as cities pursue transit-oriented development.
Download the report
Equity Analysis of Land Use and Transportation Plans Using an Integrated Spatial Model
August 2009
By Caroline Rodier, John E. Abraham, Brenda N. Dix, and John D. Hunt.
This paper describes a study to investigate how a new form of spatial economic model can be used to evaluate the equity effects of land use and transportation policies that reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Download the paper
The Climate Gap
June 2009
By Rachel Morello-Frosch, Manuel Pastor, & Jim Sadd (USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity).
This report documents the sometimes hidden and often unequal impact climate change will have on people of color and the poor in the United States.
Download the Executive Summary
Download the Full Report
Links for More Info
Housing California
PolicyLink
Public Advocates
Urban Habitat
